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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-05-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1989. Opinion Just don 7 spill red ink Shareholders of Exxon, the huge U.S. multi-national oil company sent out a powerful and cynical message from their annual meeting last week: you can spill anything you want as long as it’s not red ink. While protesters outside the meeting blasted Exxon for fouling Alaskan beaches with 42 million litres of oil and some shareholders inside demanded his resignation, Lawrence Rawl, chairman of the company said he wouldn’t resign over the whole mess. Then he said the magic words that most of the shareholders were waiting to hear: the company’s 55 cents a share dividend was not threatened by the spill.Ifithad been it is that one thing that might have had the shareholders ready to fire him. It isn’t just the spill that has ruined normally pristeen natural area and killed much of the waterfowl and water animal population of the area that is disgraceful, it’s the way Exxon handled the whole affair. To have allowed a man with a known drinking problem to captain a boat with such a dangerous cargo was negligent. To have been sailing a boat at night through iceberg infested waters was foolhardy. And once the accident took place Exxon wasted nearly a week of favourable weather before it got equipment in place to deal with the spill. By that time the weather had changed and the spill was beyond being contained. Meanwhile local residents who had wanted to get involved immediately in cleaning up the spill were turned away by the company. Now Mr. Rawl apologizes for the spill. “You want me to say I will make the spill disappear, because I can’t. ’ ’ He promises the company will clean up the area. But whether you’re a resident of the area fouled, or a person who cares about the environment or a shareholder of Exxon it’s obvious there has been gross negligence in this matter. Mr. Rawl says the company has already spent $115 million in cleanup and the job’s hardly started. Somebody sure botched the situation and all the blame can’t stop with the captain of the ship. Maybe if the next quarter’s dividend is used up in clean-up costs it will be Mr. Rawl who finally gets some of the blame. When nosey press helps There are plenty of times when the insistent digging (sometimes hounding) of reporters can be embarrassing and even harmful (as in the grandstanding that saw a Global television reporter publish a stolen copy of the federal budget) but there are many more cases where reporters let us know things authorities would keep from us otherwise. There have been three such revelations recently. If, for instance, a Globe and Mail reporter hadn’t dug up the story about gasoline contaminated with industrial wastes including dangerous PCBs being brought into Canada, would either the federal or provincial governments have done anything about the situation? The evidence is that the governments had been tipped off months ago that tanker trucks were bringing the dangerous commodities into Canada but they didn’t step up testing of the tankers and more important, they didn’t let the public know. It was only when the newspaper broke the story that the governments felt compelled to take action. Then there’s the charges that at Gateway, the huge Canada Post sorting facility in Mississauga, people have been asked to pay if they wanted to get jobs. Don Blenkarn, Progressive Conservative M.P. says he told Harve Andre, the minister in charge of Canada Post about the allegations on January 23. However, although an interior investigation by Canada Post was ordered at that time, outside police weren’t brought in until after the newspapers broke the stories of demands for bribes and sexual favours in order to get jobs. Nobody was fired until last week. Then there’s the case of Ontario Attorney General Joan Smith’s visit to a Lucan O.P.P. station to inquire about an arrested son of a friend. Perhaps Mrs. Smith wasjustacting to help a friend and in bad judgement, as Premier David Peterson claims, but why did he order anO.P.P. investigation and try to keep it quiet for five weeks. He still refuses to release the results of the investigation. It’s obvious that despite proud talk of openness in government, most politicians and bureaucrats like to work in as much secrecy as possible. It’s much more comfortable to not have your actions questioned. But that’s not how democracy is supposed to work. People must know what’s going on if they are to make the system work. The rat pack of reporters nattering at our political leaders may look uncivilized and rude but they are providing an essential service and digging up the information that would never surface otherwise. Make up your mind Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel s Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. MONDAY: Hank Stokes figures everybody should be so lucky as the government. “I mean when the feds can’t pay their bills, they can blame the Senate for holding up payment. Who have we ordinary people got to give as an excuse when we can’t make the mortgage payment or the Hydro Bill.’’ “Yeh,’’ said Billie Bean, “and even if the Senate does go back to work and pass the bill, the govern­ ment can still use the good old excuse that ‘the cheque is in the mail’. With the mail service the way it is that should buy at least another month.’’ TUESDAY: Billie said that after watching pictures on television about the big protest over in China, he can see why our businessmen would like to get their foot in the door over there. “I mean with all those people crowded into that square, wouldn’t you just love to have a take-out pizza shop near there?’’ he asked. The only problem is, Julia Flint pointed out, most of the people are Continued on page 5 P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of 517 OO/yr ($38 00 Foreign) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines Monday, 2pm - Brussels, Monday. 4pm - Blyth Wearenot responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contentsof The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editors. Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968